Antony And Cleopatra
Jul. 26th, 2012 09:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poliphiloAntony and Cleopatra is one of the sleekest, fastest plays in the canon- and none suffered more from the post Jacobean slide into mere theatrical spectacle. It's a political thriller. It absolutely doesn't need to be slowed down with sphinxes and sea-fights and processions. There's a lot of it- a lot of text- but none of it asking to be cut. Scenes are mostly short- with people habitually walking on mid-conversation and being brief and gnomic. We dodge about the world (alas for the unitities) like we' re in a James Bond movie. I read it last night and was gripped. Bedtime came and went.
It's also one of the most beautiful. I can't think of any other which maintains such altitude for so long a stretch as Antony and Cleopatra does in its final scenes. The others have their great moments, their poetic flights. Antony and Cleopatra has its great half hour.
It's also one of the most beautiful. I can't think of any other which maintains such altitude for so long a stretch as Antony and Cleopatra does in its final scenes. The others have their great moments, their poetic flights. Antony and Cleopatra has its great half hour.
